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COVER STORIES: BACK TO THE LAND...STILL
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Jennifer Sturmer, J83
Hydroponic agriculture yields tomatoes ripe with flavor while
making efficient use of precious resources
Back to Back
to the Land...Still
For almost 20 years Jennifer Lawson Sturmer, A83, has
been growing tons of tomatoes on a mere 1.75 acres. As owner
of Hummingbird Farms, she demonstrates the remarkable efficiency
of hydroponic gardening—intensive crop production where
soil is replaced by an inert growing medium, rockwool, and
a nutrient solution for irrigation. “The name of the
game is yield per square foot,” says Sturmer, who oversees
12 employees working in her greenhouses in Ridgely, Maryland.
Hummingbird Farms takes it name from Hummingbird Cay, a privately
owned island in the Bahamas where Sturmer, a biology major,
spent two spring breaks with other Tufts students, Dr. Norton
Nickerson, and Dr. George Ellmore in field observation, research,
and seminars. Later, as graduation approached, the owner
of the cay got back in touch: Would she consider building
and running a hydroponic tomato greenhouse in Maryland? “It
sounded like conducting a huge experiment that really counted,” says
Sturmer, who was preparing to join the Peace Corps. “I
couldn’t resist the opportunity to start my own business.”
Today, Sturmer grows about 17,000 plants twice each year
for two crops of off-season production, October to January
and March to July, delivering up to 11 tons a week to about
50 supermarkets and gourmet stores. She and her husband,
Rick, a business partner, have evolved a strategy that helps
them stand up against the competition. Since for most consumers
the most important quality is taste and size, they grow plenty
of beefsteak tomatoes, first choice for sandwiches and side
dishes. But they also have expanded into other varieties,
like heirloom, cherry, and red, yellow, and orange clusters,
to name a few. “We diversified and that niche served
us well,” says Sturmer. “And our typical customer
looks for us because we are picking the tomatoes red, ripe
with flavor. We have that edge.”
As a kind of pioneer in the field, Sturmer anticipates that
hydroponic agriculture will continue to thrive. “Hydroponics
will be useful as land and water resources become more precious,” she
says. “And using hydroponics with integrated pest management
as we do—using predator insects and organic soaps and
oils to control pests and diseases—can be a very environmentally
friendly way to grow nutritious, good-tasting food intensively.”
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